


parenthetical to what mattered most

by possibilityleft



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adopted Child, Clan of two, Found Family, Gen, Out in Space, Treat, parenting, post S1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26936884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/pseuds/possibilityleft
Summary: After the events of the first season, Din ponders the stars and makes plans.
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 67
Collections: Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange!





	parenthetical to what mattered most

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamiflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamiflame/gifts).



> _The child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering._ \--Benjamin Spock

Whenever Din was given a new assignment, he always spent some time taking stock. Any bounty hunter who just stormed in and started shooting was a dead bounty hunter. He planned. And now he had a new mission to consider, the child asleep in his cradle behind him.

They'd be in deep space for a few more days on their way to a planet where he hoped he still had some allies. He hadn't decided what his cover story would be yet, and he suspected it hardly mattered. If one Moff had gone after him, another would follow.

He found himself touching his crest with his fingers, staring out into space. He didn't even need to be in the cockpit right now; the autopilot could do its job. But the child was more fussy in the hold. It seemed he liked the stars. Din looked back at the cradle, half closed, where the child slept, his little hand clutched around the tiny ball that usually topped one of his controls.

They needed supplies. Fortunately it seemed like the kid would eat just about anything, and his clothing was decent enough for now, especially considering how slowly the child was growing. If it was still growing. Din had no idea. He hadn't spent a lot of time around kids since he was one, and with a being like this, all assumptions had to be on the table.

It'd be good to get some backup clothes, though, so he wasn't having to scrub out the tiny garments every day. The sonic shower wasn't helpful for things like that and Din mostly tried to have enough clean clothes for himself to get from planet to planet and use the facilities there.

Plus, the kid seemed to think it was funny to hide when he was naked, tucking himself under Din's bunk or behind a box in a dusty corner. It wasn't hard to find him, but then usually by that point the child needed a scrub too, and he squirmed too much.

It'd probably be a good idea to pick up some more remedies than he usually packed in his first aid kit. Some fever-reducers, more bandages, that kind of thing. If Din was sick he usually toughed it out, or on occasion he'd see a Mandalorian healer, if he could, or whatever cheap doc was around in a pinch. But taking the kid to see a doctor when he was sick seemed like a risk they should avoid if they could. And he knew kids got sick a lot.

Din sighed. People had been taking care of children for thousands of years. It couldn't be that hard. He'd known some people who he wouldn't have trusted with a blaster, but nonetheless they had successfully reproduced. They were a lot more likely to get in trouble with the Empire than for him to accidentally hurt the little guy, but running from authority was something he was way more familiar with than childrearing.

He felt eyes on the back of his head and turned. The child had woken and was staring at him with his big, dark eyes. After a moment, he pointed with the hand that wasn't still clutching the little metallic ball (toys, he added toys to his mental list). Din turned back to see what he was pointing at, but all he saw were the stars ahead of them.

"We're in the Outer Rim," he said. "Most of the stars out here don't have names. Names I know, anyway."

"The child made a questioning noise.

"We could make some up," he said.

"Baaaa!" the child agreed, waving his arms and throwing the metal ball in Din's direction. Din had to duck under the console to retrieve it. For like the hundredth time.

He definitely needed to get the kid some real toys.


End file.
